When Ukrainian oligarch
Mikhail Vorotavich is close to achieving his ambition of topping the
Forbes rich list, an assassination attempt leaves him in a coma and his
vast business empire rapidly descends into turmoil.

Laying in
a hospital bed, Mikhail’s uncensored life story from a poor Jewish boy
in communist USSR to disgustingly rich businessman in independent
Ukraine, full of corruption, scheming, sex, drugs and violence, flashes
in his mind’s eye. He has done it all: racketeering protection, drug
trafficking, arms dealing, raiding privatised factories, dodgy
infrastructure projects and money laundering.

Aspiring to get
legit he moves to London, but behind his new pretended façade nothing
really changes. And the higher Mikhail climbs the wider is the circle of
enemies that want him dead.

Meanwhile, his partners, in a
quest to discover who is behind the attack, stumble upon a conspiracy
that, if realised, would change the world order. The mighty adversaries
will stop at nothing.

Conspiracies, old scores, powerful enemies and the blurred lines between decency and corruption all surface.

Packed
with remarkable characters and exotic scenes, humorous and
philosophical at times, Rise of an Oligarch is a thriller set against
the background of a young Ukrainian state striving to embrace capitalist
democracy.

Rise of an Oligarch is the book that oligarchs do not want you to read.

Rise of an Oligarch by Carlito Sofer, Nik Krasno

Oligarch: a politically powerful group or person, involving great wealth, wielding great influence and power.

Mikhail was a poor Jewish boy in the communist USSR. He vowed that one day he hold the power so ruthlessly hung over his head. With the demise of the USSR, he grew to become a corrupt and extremely wealthy power in the new Ukraine, a land where money bought alliances from the highest bidders, drugs, arms dealing and money laundering were rampant. At the top of the heap stood Mikhail, but it is a dangerous world, and the top dog was always a target for takeover and death. Would becoming a legitimate businessman change that or would it increase his vulnerability to attack?

An unknown assassin’s bullet nearly ended Mikhail’s dreams, and has left him in a coma, his loyal partners on the hunt to find and destroy the perpetrator uncover a vicious conspiracy against Mikhail, one that must be stopped at any cost as they continue to believe he will awaken and take the reins back for his empire.

Follow Misha’s life from the past to the present and back again as the dark path he followed to the hospital bed he now lies in unfolds in all of its sometimes gruesome, sometimes light-hearted but always intense glory. Have past sins come back to haunt him and deal the death blow of revenge? His story is not a pretty one, but he is not the monster that many fear. Join the trip through a struggling young country as it attempts to embrace democracy in a dark and twisted way. Ukraine’s story is Misha’s story. The question is, how will they both end?

Full of grit and a raw edginess, Rise of an Oligarch by Nik Krasno and Carlito Sofer details one man’s rise from poverty as it details his country’s birth and floundering existence where honor can be purchased, graft runs rampant and guns takeovers are part of the landscape. A fascinating piece of suspense in a world we know little about, prepare to be drawn in as the lines between good and evil are blurred to become the lesser of two evils. Powerful writing, sharp and bold, a definite page turner from start to finish!

I received this copy from Nik Krasno in exchange for my honest review.